Qiao Mei held Li Gui’s hand and stroked it gently. She knew that Li Gui was thinking about how to make it up to her, but it was not as if Li Gui did not care about her during all these years. It was just that she had been deceived by Old Madam Li, who was Qiao Mei’s grandmother.
“My little girl, please consider the building costs of 500 dollars to be a loan to me which I’ll pay back later. I’ll leave this 150 dollars with you for now.” Li Gui looked into Qiao Mei’s eyes, afraid that she would refuse.
Qiao Mei nodded. Although she did not quite understand if Li Gui intended to use the money to repay her or it was meant for something else, she thought about it and decided that it would be safer for her to keep the money. Otherwise, if the Zhang and Li families came over during this period of time, they might just take the money away.
“Alright, and I want to ask if you have any plans for Zhang Qin and Zhang Miao.” Qiao Mei looked at the two children in the courtyard.
Li Gui sighed and said, “It’s better for them to be by my side. If they stay with the Zhang family, they might get beaten or scolded. Zhang Wei and Zhang Chao are still in their hands. I wonder how they are doing.”
“They’ll be fine. After all, they’re two boys, nothing will happen to them.” Qiao Mei brought Li Gui to the storeroom to take a look at the remaining beans in the house. The baskets of beans were growing quite well. Qiao Mei quietly exchanged some energy with the baskets of beans in front of her so that they could grow even better.
“There are a total of five catties of beans in this basket. You can take them to grow bean sprouts first. We’ll talk about it after the house is built.” Qiao Mei pointed at the basket in front of her.
Li Gui nodded and said, “Alright, take it that I’m borrowing the beans from you. I’ll return it when I can.”
After all, the money earned from these beans had to be handed over to the Zhang family, so the money to buy the beans should be paid by the Zhang family. Even biological brothers would settle their accounts clearly, let alone this was her own daughter. Qiao Mei had already given her enough help.
Li Gui called Zhang Qin and Zhang Miao over from the courtyard. “Zhang Qin, Zhang Miao! Come and help mom grow bean sprouts!”
Zhang Qin and Zhang Miao put down the grapes in their hands and ran over to help. When she saw her two daughters standing around her to help her with the bean sprouts, she recalled that the young Qiao Mei had also looked at her like this in the past.
The two children did not find it tiring to help out and they did their tasks reliably. Back when they were living with the Zhang family, Old Madam Zhang always ordered them around to do the housework and sometimes, they even had to cook for themselves. Naturally, they did not feel tired at all even with the current tasks at hand.
Qiao Mei’s heart ached when she saw the two children working so hard, but there was nothing she could do about it. Children from poor families had to manage the households from young. The more they learned while they were young, the better they would be able to support themselves in the future, and they would not be as spoiled as the original owner of this body. Qiao Mei did not stay around for too long and went out to busy herself with her chores in the courtyard. She had not exchanged energy with the plants yet today.
After dealing with all the beans, Li Gui brought the two children to the site of her homestead to take a look. Earlier, the ground was still filled with bushes and branches, but there were only some weeds left on the ground now. Li Gui squatted down and hugged the two children, saying, “Look, this is our home. From now on, we will live here!”
The four-year-old Zhang Miao looked around and said softly, “But there’s nothing here, how do we stay here.”
Li Gui smiled and patted Zhang Miao and Zhang Qin on their heads. She casually pointed at an empty space and said, “Let’s see, how about we build a house there and then build a shed here and put a table here…”
Listening to Li Gui’s description, Zhang Qin and Zhang Miao ran around happily in the middle of the yard. They took a look here at one moment and then jumped around there the next moment. They chatted about their ideas and also shared their thoughts about the future.
“Mom, let’s get a shelf here to grow grapes that are as delicious as elder sister’s grapes!”
“Here, here! Let’s put a pigsty here! Elder sister’s pigs are so pretty! We’ll get to eat meat every day!”
“And here! And here…”
Seeing the long-lost smiles reappearing on the two children’s faces, Li Gui was also very happy. The two children’s laughter was clear and hearty, and the sky also seemed to look bluer on this day.
“Come pluck the weeds with mom. Let’s clean up the yard together.” Li Gui and the two children went around plucking the weeds and only returned to Qiao Mei’s house when it was dark. Although it was very tiring, she had boundless energy when she thought about the beautiful life they were going to have in the future.